


Variation 8

by seekingferret



Series: The Jessica Goldberg Variations [9]
Category: Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 01:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20921570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekingferret/pseuds/seekingferret
Summary: The Rabbi sent him away three times, as is the custom. Four, actually, but the first didn't count.





	Variation 8

The Rabbi sent him away three times, as is the custom. Four, actually, but the first didn't count.

He came to the Rabbi under cover of night, banging on his door with desperation and passion. The door opened cautiously, after enough time that he knew they must be eyeing him through a hidden window. He was unarmed and unafraid.

"My name is Lorenzo," he said, "And I wish to become a Jew." In the silence that followed, he felt compelled to offer a reason. "I wish to marry the Jewess Jessica, daughter of Shylock, in the ways of your people." 

He was sent away immediately, and the request did not count, for his motive was impure. When he told his love, she explained to him the terms of gerut. "I cannot ask this thing of you," she said. "Joining my faith must be about more than just joining me. It must be about joining my people." She provided him with books, translations of the holy texts of her people, and she sent him away with a kiss.

His friends counseled him against the deed. They presented other women to him, beautiful Christian women who would have married him in an instant. But none of them had eyes that glowed with the light that sparkled in Jessica's. Perhaps the secret of her eyes is in these books, he thought, and he started to read. It was a slow process that took him weeks. The language, ostensibly Italian, was nonetheless foreign to him. He had many questions, which he wrote down to ask Jessica the next time he saw her. She answered them all, with kisses and with logic that only prompted more questions.

A year passed before he approached the Rabbi again. This time he did it in broad daylight, so the whole Quarter could see. He was sent away immediately, but this time it counted. 

He borrowed new books, and made friends in the Quarter to ask questions Jessica couldn't answer. He studied the books, and hired a tutor to teach him the language of the Jews. He still asked questions of Jessica, even though he now knew many of the answers, because he liked the way she answered them.

A month later, he approached the Rabbi again. The Rabbi spat in his face. "Why do you want to be a Jew? Do you like being spit on?" Lorenzo was tempted to answer, but instead he stood his ground, and then walked away.

He distanced himself from Antonio and Bassanio and Gratiano. He gained a halting fluency in Hebrew, and learned what the prayers of the Jews meant. Behind the back of Shylock, he studied Solomon's language of love with Shylock's daughter. He distanced himself from his own parents. The talk about him in the market grew sharp.

Six months later, he approached the Rabbi again. He was sent away again, but this time it felt like a welcoming. 

He entered the Beit Knesset after morning prayers, a few weeks later, and walked to the Rabbi's desk. "My name is Lorenzo," he said, "And I wish to become a Jew." The Rabbi nodded silently. 

It was not easy after that. A brit followed, and excruciating pain. The loss of all his former friends followed, and a different excruciating pain. But he soon had a bride, and a job with his new father-in-law, and when he looked at himself in the mirror, he thought there was a new glow in his eyes.


End file.
